On August Seventeenth -the Belize Waste Control sent out a letter to school managements - saying that schools will now have to pay to have their garbage picked up just like any other business - that is after 19 years of doing so for free.
It was an issue that came up suddenly - days before school was supposed to start and with mediation form the city council and the ministry of education - the understanding was that it would be set aside for the time being.
That was our clear understanding, but it seems someone did not get the memo and - there is a fee being levied on garbage disposal for schools; it's called "Educational Garbage".
The long and short of the matter is - schools either pay the fee or dispose of the garbage on their own.
Either way most schools just can't afford it - which has caused a garbage crisis in school compounds - creating an unhygienic environment - certainly not fit for children.
So is there anything that can be done to remedy this situation that's affecting the quality of your child's education? Well, today the Belize District Association of Principals met and came up with their solution. Executive member Marvin Kellyman told us more:
Marvin Kellyman, Executive Member B.D.A.P.
"For the past 2 months we have been noticing that our garbage was not being picked up and we realize, well at first I thought that my school was singled out. But speaking to other principals we realized it was all schools over the city and so we met today to decide on the way forward and we decided to take a stand that we will not pay for this garbage to be removed from schools; this is an injustice to the children in our city. As teachers we pay taxes, the parents of these children pay taxes so why is it not a service to be provided out to the schools? In a meeting today we found out that one school was charged $99 per week, now if you add that up it's almost $400 a month, that could translate to more than $4,000.00 for the year, where will we find that money? Where will we find the money to pay to remove the garbage when we work on a budget? Our budget is made at the beginning of the school year so where will this money come from now? Will we go to the parents and children again? We don't think it's fair so as principals we took the stand and we will not pay for it."
Monica Bodden
"You guys tried calling the company?"
Marvin Kellyman, Executive Member B.D.A.P.
"We tried and they said 'if you want your garbage removed then you have to pay.'"
Monica Bodden
"So no kind of negotiations whatsoever?"
Marvin Kellyman, Executive Member B.D.A.P.
"No negotiations at all. Pay and then they will remove the garbage."
Monica Bodden
"Now, taking that stand, what are you guys prepared to do to remove garbage from the school?"
Marvin Kellyman, Executive Member B.D.A.P.
"Well principals are creative in their own way, they have ways of getting it done in the short term, but in the long term we have to find a real solution to this problem and we will be meeting throughout the weeks to come to find out a real solution and where we go forward with this situation."
Monica Bodden
"You guys tried contacting the Belize City Council?"
Marvin Kellyman, Executive Member B.D.A.P.
"We tried but they are always in a meeting or we didn't get any response from them. We don't know what's the situation between Belize City Council and BML or Belize Waste Control. As a matter of fact that's not our problem, the problem is they have a service to provide and they should remove the garbage from schools."
We called Belize Waste Control this evening - and according to them - they have no comments at this time.
Email
Print